Harry Potter Mania hits Fanklin NY
by rabbitman
Summary: NOT A FAN FIC!!! Coulmn I wrote for the local paper.


Harry Potter Mania Hits Franklin NY

A/n This is an page I wrote for the local paper. I'm a new writer to fanfiction.net and I hope to continue. I have a farm in Bloomville NY. My wife Kathryn and Tyler are really themselves. THIS IS NOT FICTION!!! Please review.

Haying has been progressing very slowly here on the farm because of the wet weather conditions. I mowed a couple of fields of hay down thinking the weather was going to be nice and sunny but I was wrong. Boy was I wrong. The night that I cut the hay a terrible thunder and lightning storm hit the farm at three in the morning. The reason I know the time is because a roar of thunder awakened me out of a dead sleep. In the next instance a flash of lightning lit up the entire house followed by another roar of thunder. I didn't get any sleep after that so I decided to head to the barn at four in the morning. Most morning I feed and water the rabbits early in the morning followed by setting up the pipeline and feeding grain to the cows. I then release the poodles since most times I need their assistance to bring the cows to the barn. 

The main focus of the cows has been the lush growth of the grass on the hayfields. The other night the cows came running at the gate in the barnyard in hopes of breaking it down so they could access to all the hayfields. Luckily, the poodles and I were able to prevent them from doing so. Unfortunately the cows went up into the pasture and by morning had punctured a hole in the fence at another spot. The poodles and I soon rounded them up. I soon found the hole they had created and fixed it. We have a couple of cows that just love to look for weak spots in the fence and exploit them. At least the cows are helping me build a better fence by showing me where all the weak spots are. 

In about a week or so, Kathryn and Tyler will be on there way to Las Vegas, Nevada and then on to California. Kathryn wants to visit all her friends and family before she has the baby since she won't be able to do much traveling in a couple of months. They will be gone for close to a month. I know while they are gone I will be very depressed missing them because the farm will be very lonely but at least my parents and In-Laws will be here to keep me company. Also I have so many jobs to do here on the farm I will be too busy to miss them much. They are very excited and looking forward to their trip.

Tyler and I spent some quality time together when we went to a Harry Potter party at the Franklin Library. Tyler is an avid fan of the Harry Potter books and after much persuasion he has gotten me hooked as well. When I read in the Daily Star about the party I knew that Tyler would love to go. We made our reservations in advance to attend the party. Tyler spent most of the week trying to decide how to dress up. He decided to go as Cedric Diggory, a character from the books. I decided to go as the ghost of James Potter. 

We decided to milk the cows early so we could leave for the party, which started at 6:30 and lasts until 8:00. The problem was we made the mistake of telling the cows that we wanted to go somewhere. The rule of farming is whenever the farmer wants to go somewhere; the cows will do everything in their power to make sure that he is late. Tyler and I rushed to get everything in the barn ready for the cows. We had grain in front of all the stanchions and pipeline was washed and ready. We threw open the barn doors to let the cows into the barn and beheld not one single cow in sight. We knew that we had limited time to locate the herd and bring them to the barn. We searched the entire lower cow pasture without any success. We raced to the middle cow pasture with still no luck. We were starting to get worried. I drove the ATV up to High Pasture and High Point. No cows anywhere. Then at the far end of High Pasture toward the Old Road I saw a few bovines moving among the trees. The cows couldn't have been farther from the barn. We had a long way to drive them towards the barn. The main problem was the cows didn't want to go. They balked and did everything they could to slow us down. It took a combined effort from humans and poodles to get them to the barn. When I looked at the clock my heart fell. We were way behind schedule because of the mischievous bovines. I managed to finish milking as fast as possible.

Before leaving I needed to be made into a ghost. Tyler used some ointment under the flour that he used to make a really great ghost. The problem was that the ointment didn't come off right away. I just applied some water to my face with some flour on top. We both looked quite convincing as ghosts as we left for the party. We were able to make pretty good time and only arrived at the party about five minutes late. I was worried that I would have a hard time finding the party but it was quite easy when I saw the crowd of people in front of the library dressed as wizards, witches and other characters from the Harry Potter books. Finding a parking spot was a little bit tricky because of all the people in attendance. We find a parking spot quite a distance from the crowd of people. We rushed back to where we saw the crowd so we wouldn't miss any of the activities.

The first place we stopped was at the check in table. The lady checked to make sure our names were on her list of people who had reservations. After finding our names Tyler was given a bag of gold pieces. Actually the gold pieces were beans that were painted gold. The gold was to be used to buy refreshments. Tyler bought some pumpkin juice, which was really orange soda. He also bought some jellybeans. Also some of the refreshments that we had a chance to taste later were chocolate frogs and snails that were peppermint candy. After the refreshments we jumped on the Hogwarts express that took us into the library. The rules of Hogwarts was read to us and then the Hogwarts song was song with each singer being able to sing at their own tempo. After the singing it was time to put on the sorting hat. Each child put on the sorting hat and chose which of the four houses at Hogwarts they wished to be in. Many chose Gryffindor because Harry Potter belongs to this house. There were a few that chose RavenClaw and Slytherin. When it was Tyler turn to chose he decided to join HufflePuff. After every child chose a house they were then put into classes to earn points for their house. The classes were Magical Creatures, Potions, Defense Against Dark Magic. Tyler loved all the classes that he participated in. After classes it was time for Harry Potter Trivia. All the children were split into three teams who took turns asking each other questions in regards to the four Harry Potter books. The final activity for the evening was a game of Quidditch. The game was played with a ball that represented the Quaffle in the Harry Potter books. The rules of Quidditch were quite simple. Once you caught the ball you were allowed to take one step before throwing the ball to a teammate. The object was to put the ball in the goal. Every once in a while the gold snitch was thrown across the playing field. The gold snitch was very sought after because of all the points it's worth. Tyler came close to catching the snitch a number of times. Everyone was sad when the game of Quidditch was over because it meant the end to a great evening. I wish to thank everyone who made Harry Potter night at the Franklin library possible. You did a wonderful job. My son and I appreciate the effort that you made. Thank You. 


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